Liturgical Lights for Sunday May 31, 2015

Pentecost was last Sunday. Because the Narrative Lectionary offers four-cycles of readings from the Sunday after Labor Day to the Sunday of Pentecost, we find ourselves in liminal space. We are neither here nor there. It is summer. We are in-between what was and what will be.

The good folks over at Working Preacher don’t leave us hanging though. They offer a focus of readings for the summer months. In 2015, we find ourselves wandering through the Psalms for six weeks before you can choose-your-own-adventure into Hebrews, Old Testament Wisdom and Poetry or Creeds. It’s my hope to offer some prayers for the next six weeks — and then, I will likely take a break until the Sunday after Labor Day.

Without further ado, the Narrative Lectionary leads us to consider the inspiration of Psalm 1 for May 31, 2015. There is the option to pair this reading with John 14:1-6 but I haven’t felt so inclined to do so in the prayers I’ve written here. Please note that the Prayer of Confession is one that I adapted long ago and can no longer figure out where it originally came from. The best I can figure out is that it came from the Children’s Resources for the Children’s Sabbath. That’s the credit I’ve given anyway.

This particular psalm feels like it could get a little self-congratulatory. As hard as it is to be a person of faith, I am wary of worship that praises us more than it praises God. The various translations of this Psalm (especially the one from the Message) tilt a little too far into this realm for my liking — but I think I’d use that as inspiration by using a responsive reading of one translation to call the body into worship and then another translation before the Word is proclaimed. I obviously couldn’t resist embracing the powerful imagery of Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken and the spiritual I Shall Not Be Moved.

Prayer of Invocation

Plant us here, O God.
For there are two roads that diverge in a yellow wood,
and we are not sure which one to take.
We are not sure if we should turn right or left.
Or if we should just turn around and go home.
We are overwhelmed and uncertain.
We are terrified that we’ll make
another mistake.
O God, plant us here.
Plant us like your sturdy trees.
Dig roots underneath our feet into your living water.
Nourish us from this network just underneath our feet.
Plant us in your way so that we will not be moved.
Come and plant us here so that we might find the road less traveled. Amen.

Growing God, we confess that we cling to the comfortable,
fall back on the familiar, and allow apathy to dull our hearts and our commitment.
We shrug our shoulders and say that’s just the way it is.
Forgive us, Growing God,
for callousness instead of compassion,
for discouragement instead of determination,
for selfishness instead of service.
Forgive us for all the ways we insist on our own happiness.
In your mercy, we pray.

Words of Assurance (Responsive)

Drink in deeply from the living water
below your feet, rooted in your very being.
There is reason to be happy.God has planted us here!
There is living water in each of us!

Charge (Responsive)
Drink in deeply from the living water
below your feet, rooted in your very being.
There is reason to be happy.God has planted us here!
There is living water in each of us!

Benediction (Unison)

May God grow with us
so that we might blossom
in the living water of Christ,the Root of Our Salvation. Amen.

I would love to hear what you’ve go planned for worship on Sunday — especially as summer arrives. Does this mean a transition in your worship experience? I’d love to hear what you’re daydreaming about in the comments below. And, if you happen to use the prayers I’ve written in your worship, and I hope you will, please do offer me credit with as follows:

The prayers in our worship this morning were written by/adapted from Liturgical Lights for Sunday May 31, 2015 by the Rev. Elsa Anders Peters. Elsa is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ who blogs at revelsaanderspeters.com.